Another magnificent goal for Ivan Demidov in the KHL in a loss for SKA

It’s funny, but my colleague Maxime Truman published an article this noon about Ivan Demidov.

It mentions (in connection with Réjean Tremblay’s most recent column on PunchingGrace.com) that a KHL player thinks the Canadiens’ prospect is “extraordinary” on the ice, and you can also read that in Bob Hartley’s eyes, Demidov is “one heck of a hockey player.”

And right now, Demidov is making headlines for all the right reasons… Because he scored a simply magnificent goal in the KHL.

This happened in the second period, after a quieter first twenty for the Canadiens’ prospect.

He only played 3 minutes and 55 seconds in the first period, which isn’t great.

But Demidov really put on a show in the second period: the forward stole the puck from the opponent before outsmarting the goalie, but he never shot.

Instead, he decided to send the puck to the net with his backhand while four players from the other team were watching him… And Demidov beat the goalie because the puck ended up in the top corner of the net.

A true gem:

Demidov with a casual no-look backhander top cheese. How the fuck did FOUR teams pass over him pic.twitter.com/NXgkLt0cu9

— HFTV (@HFTVSports) January 13, 2025

Let’s remember that Ivan Demidov had the opportunity to play on the first line of the SKA for a few games, but he is back on the club’s third unit.

That said, it’s by scoring goals like that that he will continue to make Roman Rotenberg look bad, who hasn’t been utilizing him to his full value regularly since the beginning of the season.

Today, Demidov’s ice time looked like this:

3:55 in the first period (five shifts)
6:18 in the second period (eight shifts)
6:51 in the third period (nine shifts)
51 seconds in overtime (one shift)

In total, the Canadiens’ prospect played almost 18 minutes (17:54) and that’s a good thing.

We can obviously see that his usage was much more frequent starting in the second period… But Rotenberg especially decided to trust him even more after seeing him score his goal.

Crazy Rotenberg…

Lastly, let’s note that the SKA lost the game by a score of 4-3.

Overtime was necessary to determine a winner between the two teams, and it was ultimately Alexander Radulov’s team that won.

The former Canadiens player stood out in the game by scoring two goals.

Overtime

It’s worth noting that with the point earned in the standings, the SKA from Saint Petersburg is now in 7th place in its division.

They are only four points away from the CSKA and 2nd place in the West.

If the trend continues, the club will be able to qualify for the playoffs without too many problems.